Clem Fandango

Well put, Tim. Nice write up!

How is Granderson a little Soriano? His numbers this year were very Soriano like... at least, Texas-era Soriano. But I think those numbers are clearly an aberration, though they were still pretty impressive for a center fielder. Either way, if Soriano were more like Granderson I don't think people would be any happier. Granderson is great. I don't know what A-Cal is talking about.

His power didn't seem to get zapped after his wrist injury. Had 3 less homers in 3 less games than he did in Cleveland... but when he switched over to St. Louis it seemed like he sorta forgot how to hit all together. Whether he was just in the stages of a decline or feeling the ailing effect of the wrist injury, it doesn't make bringing him back to be a starter all that appealing. Maybe back in a bench utility role sure, and at the right price, but as our starter I'm not too terribly thrilled with the idea. What about Akinori Iwamura for 2B? With the emergence of Zobrist and Bartlett, surely the Rays won't pick up his $4.25MM option to have him be a backup? He's no power threat by any means, but he hits for a modest average and a solid OBP and is passable at 2B with the glove. If they do pick up the option, I would assume they would be open to trading for him? Just spitballing ideas. He's the only appealing potential FA 2B on the market who isn't a Type A in my opinion.

That's awesome if true. Knowing Hendry he'll probably give him a 7-year, 8-figure contract with a full NTC or something. [/pointless criticism]

KyleJRM

I'm at 128... cheating now... got 2003-2009 with the exception of SS in 2005... who the hell was SS in 2005? EDIT: Nomar, HA! How forgettable. Lots of these names I don't remember, but I'm ashamed at forgetting about a lot of the players from the early to mid 90's. My brother and I when we were younger would play whiffle ball in my grandmothers back yard each summer in Dundee and we would run through the Cubs lineup and pretend to be each player. So sadly I was ashamed I forgot so many legendary players such as Luis Salazar, Hector Villanueva, Jose Vizcaino, Scott Bullett, and Joe Girardi. Surprisingly, I got the entire 1994 team correct.

Whoops, just posted this ins transactions... had no idea it was in Cubs Discussion :oops:

I'm pretty sure if Hendry doesn't make an attempt to get Jaramillo to fill our empty hitting coach role I'm gonna barf a fart http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/ne ... id=4558743

I immediately thought of this play, though it wasn't too terribly significant...

Well that's just not very classy

Let's forget about Luke Scott, who is a serviceable right fielder, cheap, lefty (switch hitter), and put up the production numbers (HR/RBI) we were hoping from Bradley this year and instead focus on giving up way more players for a guy we gave up for much less who still isn't that good? Is that what I'm reading?

who? i knew who he was, but i was perusing the mlb scoreboard on saturday (i think it was saturday, can't remember) and under toronto home runs it said Lind 3 (35). i was pretty stunned by that. A former University of South Alabama Jaguar! My alma mater! w00t I'll keep the celebration to a minimum... Juan Pierre is from there, too :oops:

He does this... http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/222638/?tag=chicken

WTF? You fire the guy because he couldn't make improvements in 3 months? They better at least put him back in AAA, otherwise this is the dumbest thing ever.

Twins and Tigers both win to force a 1-game playoff. Awesome. GO TWINS!

True, that was always one of the quirkiest stats out there.

He hit 2HR and 7 RBI in one inning today, which set an AL record for most RBI in one inning. But more amazingly, I've noticed, is that with those two home runs and 7RBI, he reached exactly 30HR and 100RBI on the year, which gives him his 12th consecutive season of 30 or more HR and 100 or more RBI. I thought that was pretty amazing and never realized he's had that streak. If it wasn't for a down year in 1997, he'd have a streak of 14 consecutive years like that

DOH! My mistake.... well... You wouldn't want a guy who had polished a turd into a diamond by trading Bradley for Ethier?

DePo a retread? Really? The guy who played a part in having the foresight to draft players like Andre Ethier, Jonathan Broxton, Chad Billingsley, Matt Kemp, Russell Martin, and James Loney doesn't strike you as the kind of guy you'd be interested in helming the Cubs? He makes good decisions, is sabermetric minded, and has a good eye for talent. He's kind of exactly what the Cubs could use in the front office.

I'm really pulling for the Twins. If I weren't a Cubs fan I'd definitely be a Twins fan. I admire their entire team's work ethic and fundamental approach to the game. They're always mediocre on paper and each year they fight for a playoff spot. They're kinda awesome

Delmon Young, you mean?

From Jayson Stark's end of the year wrap up article... http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=4526015

Hawpe is no worse defensively then the lot the Cubs have trotted out there recently. Sosa (the latter years), Hollandsworth, Grieve, Burnitz, Bradley, etc, etc, etc. The only remotely close to good defensively RF the Cubs have had is now playing CF. Hawpe is pretty clearly worse than all of those guys except maybe Grieve who played roughly 4 innings in RF for us. Perhaps, but consider where he has had to play defensively? In his career he has had to play in some of the games biggest OFers. Not saying it's an excuse, but perhaps playing at a smaller OF can help hide his defensive inability. It's possible it could do him some good. But UZR is already park adjusted. Hawpe is simply far too terrible a defender to justify looking at. In all likelihood, we would be considerably better off having Fuld play every day... if Hawpe isn't a viable alternative to Fuld, I'd have a hard time believing we should move Bradley to make room for him. Let's move on, shall we? I actually spent quite a while trying to come up with stats to justify trading for Hawpe after you told me how bad he was defensively, and even formulated a big response to play Devil's Advocate... but I couldn't do it. His defensive numbers are that bad. I thought "Oh, let's see how they compare to THIS guy!" and Hawpe was way worse. Then I thought "Let's check out VORP!", but VORP doesn't take defense into account. FWIW though, Hawpe would have the 2nd highest position player VORP on the team this year if he were a Cub. He's also be in the Top 3 of 19 other teams in the majors, and ranks 7th in the majors for right fielders in VORP (4th in the NL)... but that doesn't matter because his defense really, and truly is, terrible. I had no idea, but it's bad on a biblical level. I'm ashamed for advocating a trade for Hawpe in the past it's so bad. He belongs in the AL

I heard Lou on the radio after Colvin's first few games saying "We're probably gonna rest him the rest of the year." I have no idea what the logic was behind that decision. He worked hard all year in the minors so he could make the major league squad and not prove his worth. What a selfish little bastard.

Beat me to it... +1